"Hmm... that seems to be pretty doable. Aside from you and Valian, who else is participating in this or would be participating in it?"
Shiva asked as he took a look at his son.
"Well, we have been talking about forming the group together with Bikou, Karna, and Arjuna. We will also use Vritra as our mascot. The dragon has already reached the peak of Level 5, so he would be more useful for us in the long run."
Hearing the names, Shiva grew more at ease, but that only lasted for a moment before he realized that their little group would most probably create more problems than it was worth.
Valiana was already more problematic than enough, and then if one added Bikou, who was creating problems anywhere where he went, Karna's reputation and rather problematic personality weren't anything for the win, too...
"Well... that is one rather interesting company truth to be told."
Even though Shiva wasn't really that thrilled hearing about the people who would be part of it, he feared that they would create a lot of problems. However, he also understood that if things were under the control of Yhwach, then at least it wouldn't devolve into one massive mess.
At least he really hoped for that.
"More problems after another, but at last, everyone would be able to use their energy in something productive."
Yhwach was aware of the difficulties that lay before him, especially when he thought over the people with whom they would be establishing the mercenary company. Even though he dared to say that he loved Valiana, she wasn't the most responsible person around.
Aside from her habit of randomly picking up fights with random people whom she considered powerful and worthy of the challenge. She was also pretty reckless as she tended to rush into the situation without thinking too much, as long as there was a prospect of a good fight.
Bikou was a walking problem, as the young monkey Yokai was a notorious prankster with zero to no respect from the authorities, and many, even in the Hindu Pantheon and Celestial Court, considered him a rude monkey.
It seemed that he had inherited it from his grandfather, Sun Wunkong, who was also pretty problematic during his young years, to the point where he was forbidden from entering the Celestial Court for sealing the Peaches of Immortality in the personal garden of the Queen Mother of the Celestial Court.
And Sun Wunkong also did a lot of pranks in the Celestial Court during his youth, so it seemed that Bikou was just continuing the family tradition.
Aside from these two problematic elements, then there was Karna, who was pretty arrogant even by the standards of the Gods, and due to his cold and calculating nature, he was a very straightforward person who spoke what he thought, and it wasn't really the best thing.
Just thinking about this gave Yhwach a relatively strong headspace as he thought it over, and the idea of how he would be managing these people was making him sick. If not for the possible benefits and for Valiana's insistence and other things that she was pushing for it, he would be seriously thinking if this entire ordeal was worth it.
"Well, if you have already decided, then there is nothing more to discuss with me. Or do you want to discuss something else?"
With this, the establishment of their Mercenary Company was officially done; there was still one thing that Yhwach wanted to talk to his father about.
"Do you have anything for us? The first place we are going to is the Underworld. There are a few interesting things that I want to obtain, and I want to explore the old capital of the Devils, Lucifaad. It's rumored that there are former research laboratories of the House Lucifer, albeit they are abandoned right now."
Yhwach wanted to return to the Underworld for several reasons, but the main one was to explore the former capital of the Lucifaad, which was their center in the past. It was the home to the House Lucifer, and he coincidentally had the descendant of the House Lucifer with him.
Aside from that, he wanted to find some vaults of the House of Lucifer or one of the Six Houses of Lucifer that remained intact in that place. With Valiana's help, they would be able to open them and loot their content.
He was sure that they would have some really nice things and also a lot of treasures and wealth. But the real reason why he was going in there was the knowledge of the House Lucifer, including the legendary Grimoire, the Book of Lucifer, something that Lucifer, previously known as Helel, used to create the Devil Race together with Lilith.
Yhwach felt that the book was a very powerful artifact, and he wanted to get his hands on it at any cost. Lucifaad was full of treasures because it was mostly abandoned in haste, and he managed to find out through his information network that the Six Houses of Lucifer perished sooner than anyone could take their treasures.
Six Houses of Lucifer, also known as Lucifer Six, consisting of the Extra Devil Houses Lucifuge, Satanachia, Agaliarept, Fleurety, Sargatanas, and Nebiros, once served the House of Lucifer directly.
Because of this, they were often called the Six Houses of Lucifer. While not directly a Royal bloodline, as the Satan Clans are called, they were respected by the other three because of the direct connection to the Lucifer bloodline.
During the Great War of Supernatural, the Six Houses of Lucifer were tasked with carrying out research that was entrusted to them by Lucifer, with their primary task being the weapon development and research of experimental advanced Magic.
This was something that he had learned with his contact with Ajuka Beelzebub and Azazel; it was rather a precious piece of information, and he was rather interested in whatever the Six Houses of Lucifer were researching out there.
For whatever reason, the New Satan Faction under the new Four Great Satans didn't bother to excavate the ruins of the Lucifaad, and everything that remained there was forgotten and sealed.
Yhwach knew that it was mainly due to the fact that the research that was carried out within the Lucifaad by the Six Houses of Lucifer was highly dangerous, even for the Devils themselves.
Even though he wasn't the most politically apt person around, he understood that there was certain weird friction between the New Satan Faction. The entire New Satan Faction could be divided into three Sub-Factions: the Four Great Satans, the Great King Faction, and the Neutral Faction.
Four Great Satans were the official rulers of the devil race, but their real executive power was shit. Ajuka was disinterested in ruling or anything remotely connected to politics, and Falbium Asmodeus was too lazy to actually care. Serafall Leviathan was not ruler material at all, and Sirzechs Lucifer was choosing a softer approach because he didn't want to have another devil civil war.
Great King Faction was the faction created by the House Bael, and they were a politically strong faction that held real power in their hands. Ywhach knew it through his father because Shiva had dealings with Zekram Bael, who was secretly Level 8 True Form Super Devil.
This was a secret that was known to perhaps no more than five people in the entire Draconic Deus. The Great King Faction consisted of the most traditional nobles and Pillar Houses, and they held most of the economic and even military power in the Devil Race.
The last one was the Neutral Faction, which consisted of the Extra Devil Houses and Pillar Houses that chose to be neutral in all of this mess. On top of that, they also had a good number of independent, powerful Devils, be they Pure-Blood Devils, Half-Bloods, or Reincarnated Devils.
Because of this, the Devil Race entered some sort of stagnation, and practically nobody wanted the ruins of the Lucifaad to be excavated as both factions, namely the Satan Faction and Great King Factions, feared that their rival would be able to overpower them.
This was actually playing into Yhwach's cards as he would be able to sweep in and take the benefits for him and take all of the research.
"You are actually going after the Melabranche, right?"
Shiva knew his son very well and he knew that there was one thing that stood up among the ruins of the Lucifaad.
Melabranche.
Malebranche, also known as the Evil Claws, is a collection of twelve living weapons that the original Four Great Satans created using crystals excavated from Agreas. They were modeled into weapons, using the Sacred Gears as a reference. Due to their unique power to transform them into weapons, the Original Satans referred to them as Satanic Arms.
The original Four Great Satans created the Malebranche as the living weapons, which were created in secret using the special crystals found in Agreas Island, using the Sacred Gears that the God of the Bible created as reference.
Though the Four Great Satans used them, they later sealed them fearing their devastating power. As such, none of the Malebranche was used in the Great War of the Supernatural, because even if the Devil Faction won, they believed the Malebranche would later kill them in all.
It was a commonly accepted idea that the Melabranche were completely uncontrollable, and they would turn on their creators as the only thing that they wanted was to slaughter everything that was alive.
After the Great War of the Supernatural, information about the Malebranche wasn't revealed to the public, so their existence was just treated as a rumor or legend. The ones who knew about them were the Four Satans and the Heads of the Six Houses of Lucifer. Aside from them, Lord Zaoroma Nebiros knew about the Malebranche, as the others who did know about them had died.
Considered living weapons, the Malebranche possess both a body and consciousness and can change between their normal forms or into combat gear to be wielded.
In history, there was only one event when the Melabranche was used, and it was during the Devil Civil War between the Old Satan Faction and the New Satan Faction. During that time, the Old Satan Faction partially unsealed Barbariccia and Scarmiglione, with Barbariccia feeling uninterested in that era and instead wishing to fight against the Longinus and their wielders instead.
They were sealed away in the deepest space below Lucifaad, where they remained sealed and nobody wanted to have anything with them at all. Yhwach studied the Melabranche, and he had a certain plan that was rather feasible to control.
"Aside from the Divine Artifacts and Longinuses, there are not many weapons that are fulfilling my requirements for my personal weapon. Using the Divine Artifact right now would be a waste of resources for me, and Longinuses are out of the question due to Heaven's System. But the Melabranche... I think that all twelve of them could be reforged into one weapon, and if all of their consciousnesses are merged and wiped out, we can create a new collective consciousness that would be stable, and the weapon would be powerful. With enough resources added, we can create a Growth-Type Ultra-Divine Tool."
This was the basis of Yhwach's plan, as he lacked a proper weapon to channel his power, and creating a proper weapon was highly problematic. It was rather easy, with the resources of the Hindu Pantheon, to create a Divine Artifact for him or a Symbol of Power if he wanted, but that wasn't really enough.
His ambition was to create an Ultra-Divine Tool.
The Divine Tools are created by Gods or beings with power comparable to Gods, such as Divine Blacksmiths. Only a True God can fully utilize their power, as Divine Energy is required to tap into the true strength of these weapons. Each Divine Tool is categorized into ranks: Quasi-Divine, Divine, Real Divine, Pseudo Ultra Divine, and Ultra Divine Tool. These tools possess intelligence and various abilities, and their ranks determine how much they can enhance the wielder's strength.
The Divine Tools were unique, and each one that was created by a God was perfectly suited to the Divine Authorities of the God. Due to that, God not only obtained very powerful weapons but at the same time, they obtained perfect tools to channel and wield their Divinities.
If he wanted to create an Ultra-Divine Tool, he needed a superior base for the weapon that was unmatched by anything else, and Yhwach wanted to go even beyond that, as he wanted to give his Ultra-Divine Tool the Groth-Attribute so the weapon could grow beside him.
"That's rather a dangerous endeavor. However, if you are confident in it, then I will give you full support. I am certain that some of the Gods would be interested in a project like this."
Shiva knew that if his son's ideas were to be realized, then an extraordinarily powerful Ultra-Divine Tool would be born in the Hindu Pantheon, which would be a great boon for their Pantheon.
"Also, if you are so deadset on doing the Mercenary work, then I would have something for your little ragtag group when you return from the Underworld."
As Yhwach prepared to leave, he was stopped by his father because it would seem that they would obtain their first assignment. Even though this one would be carried out free of charge, as they would be doing this on behalf of their homeland.
"What exactly?"
He didn't know what exactly his father had in mind, but at least he hoped that it would be something interesting truth to be told.
"We got information that certain things are happening in the Greek Pantheon, and it seems that Poseidon and Zeus are once again at odds with each other. When you are done with the business in the Underworld, I want you to go to America and learn more about this."
Hearing this made Yhwach raise his eyebrow because conflicts within the Greek Pantheon were nothing new.
"Aren't they fighting all the time? What's so special about this time?"
Even though he wasn't against the idea of going to investigate the situation with the Greeks, he still found it rather pointless because they had conflicts among each other all the time, and if they were fighting...
Well, so that kind of shocking information is like the grass is green or the sky is blue.
"Well... according to our intel, Poseidon has ordered a complete lockdown of Atlantis, and he is readying his armies. The forges in the Poseidonis are working on stopping, and apparently, there are similar scenes in Mount Olympus as Poseidon is rallying the armies of Hoplytes and Spartans through Ares. It seemed that those two idiots were really going to war for something that we know about."
Now that this additional piece of information was out, he was rather surprised by it because it really seemed like they were preparing for the war. Poseidonis was the capital city of the Atlantis Kingdom, and it was the location of one of the most famous forges of the Greek Pantheon.
The war that nobody wanted to see.
"Those stupid idiots would drag everyone into the war, effectively starting the Second Great War of Supernatural."
The primary dominion of the Greek Pantheon was North America, while most of their worshippers and temples were in the United States of America. If the conflict between the Greeks erupted there, then the other factions and Pantheons would be dragged into it for sure.
Namely, the Devils and Heaven, had a rather strong pull in North America and South America, respectively, and by extension, the Hindu Pantheon and Celestial Court also had a lot of worshippers in the United States and Canada.
And these were just a big players.
Because the United States was the most powerful normal human nation, it was a target destination for various smaller factions to extend their influence, mostly various Magicians and similar groups called North America their home.
So, if something had started there, the chances of global war would have been very high.
It wasn't like Yhwach was against the new Great War; actually, he, in fact, embraced the idea because it would be the time to root out the weak and rule this world as they were supposed to do.
But right now, the time was not right.
Actually, it was a pretty horrible time.
"Well... that certainly changes a situation a little. Don't you have more information on the situation and why those two are actually fighting?"
Yhwach asked as he suspected that this wasn't about petty squabbles and it could be something serious. But, on the other hand, this was concerning the Greek Pantheon and some of their most important Gods, so one could completely rule out the petty squabbles.
The Greek Gods had the worst reputation around among the Gods.
"Unfortunately, no, but we are already working on it. This matter concerns not just the Greeks. If those two idiots start fighting each other without the care of the world, then everything that we have worked for so hard would go to oblivion."
Yhwach knew that what his father was talking about was the slow but steady unification of the entire Draconic Deus or at least most of it to defend against the threats by the Dimensional Gap.
Mainly the threat of the Evies and Etoulde.
Another Great War of the Supernatural would either destroy it all or jeopardize their plans, and even if they could succeed, then it would leave them in a much-weakened state.
Something that was unacceptable, and they needed to do something about it, preferably resolve the conflict in some way and prevent it from happening at all. The easiest way would be to kill either Zeus or Poseidon, though Yhwach would really go with killing Zeus.
His Divinity could be pretty useful on top of that, because he was Level 7 High God with Divine Rank 20, and he was also the God King of the entire Pantheon, so his Godhood could be very valuable for some Gods.
If it was up to him, he would kill Zeus and give his Divine Spark to Indra so their Pantheon could give birth to another Level 9 God. Even though Zeus was really weak compared to Indra, who was a Level 8 God on the same level as the 2nd Generation Primordial Gods.
Right, now the Hindu Pantheon, had 4 Level 8 Gods.
Shiva, Indra, Vishnu, and Brahma.
Among them, Shiva was the one who was on the verge of reaching Level 9, and judging based on everything, Yhwach knew that his father would soon reach that Level.
Now, Yhwach understood that the stronger their Pantheon became, the better it would be for them, and Heavenly Emperor Indra was another God with the best chance to reach Level 9 God.
Even though Zeus was categorically weaker than Indra, apparently, the man never really bothered to train his Divine Authority and develop his power aside from what he was born with and the bonuses for being the God King.
Utterly pathetic.
"Ts... dammed Greeks, they should stick to their typical laziness and orgies until they fade completely or are destroyed due to their stupidity. Not like this..."
Yhwach cursed at the stupidity of the Greek Gods because they were constantly creating problems for the entire Draconic Deus. And now they could create a war that would destroy the majority of the world and start the Second Great War of Supernatural.
The First Great War of Supernatural was already more than enough, and a lot of factions didn't recover from the aftermath of the war. The First Great War of Supernatural resulted in the destruction of many Pantheons and Factions because something that started as the Civil War of Biblical Pantheon soon evolved into a large-scale conflict, with other factions being dragged into it.
And the results were far more terrifying than anyone could imagine.
Many of the smaller Pantheons, such as the Mesopotamian Pantheon, several ingenious Pantheons, countless Divine Spirits, Gods, and other entities, have perished in the flames of war.
Together with them, many other small-time players perished or were assimilated by bigger and stronger factions. The Biblical Pantheon was officially dissolved as a political entity, and it was replicated by the current stalemate of the Three Factions, as they were called.
Not only that, but the Heaven lost all of their influence in Asia and Nordic states, and their influence worldwide was tremendously weakened after the Last Stance Offensive conducted by the Nordic Pantheon on the forces of Heaven and Church, which resulted in their collapse in the states of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.
This was a really big historical difference compared to his old world, where the Abrahamic religions were basically worldwide. In the Dracocic Deus, the Abrahamic Religious power base was strictly limited to Western Europe, Central Europe, and the Middle East.
Aside from that, they retained significant influence in South America and Eastern Europe and some influence in North America, though these regions were disputed because a lot of the Pantheons and factions held a powerful stake in those countries.
"Well, the Greek Gods, especially the Olympians, are heavily into the absorption of Faith, and their strength has been declining over the past centuries. If something significant doesn't happen, they will start fading or losing all of their power in the next century."
He heard his father say, and he could really help but agree with the statement because the Greek Gods were heavily dependent on the Faith of their worshippers, even to sustain their own existence.
This was the result of absorbing the unrefined Faith for centuries. In this opinion, the Gods doing this were like drug addicts that were in the worst state of drug addiction; additionally, if they were out of the drug, then they would die for sure.
This was proof that absorbing unrefined Faith was an utterly foolish thing to do, and why not many Gods were doing something like that. For example, in the Nordic Pantheon, Hindu Pantheon, Shinto Pantheon, and Celestial Court, it was heavily frowned on because of the side effects.
"Well, aside from Hades."
If there was one God who was actually profiting from all of this, then it would be Hades, who had secretly reached the Level 8 God, and according to his father, the God of the Underworld and the Dead was right now at the Divine Rank 22 or so.
This was a secret that nobody in the Greek Pantheon actually knew, and it was discovered only around several years ago or so. Since then, the Greek Pantheon was in a very shaky situation because Zeus, jealous as he was of his brother, wasn't taking it very well that his brother, whom he had banished to the Underworld, could now squash him like a bug if he wished to do so.
"Hades is the only one that rejected the Faith Path from the Greek Pantheon and instead chose a similar approach as the Asgardians... not to mention, the Underworld under his rule has thrived too much, and his power now reaches such a high degree where he probably wants to establish his own Divine Realm or assimilate the entire Underworld under his rule."
As Shiva spoke about the possible ambitions of the Greek God of the Underworld and Dead, Yhwach realized that if Hades succeeded, then it would be enough to propel him to Level 9 almost instantly, and he would have very good chances at reaching even Level 10 Origin God Level.
"He could be suitable to take over the Greeks if they fall, though I seriously doubt that he would actually go with that."
Even Yhwach didn't really believe what he was saying because he relied on the thought that if the Greek Pantheon indeed fell in the future, then it would just perish. And this would have nothing to do with Hades, the God of the Underworld, who was very satisfied in his own domain.
"Well, that would be the concern for the future, but if the Greeks indeed fall, then we should at least try to obtain some benefits from them."
Shiva didn't have much hope for the Greeks in the first place; it was Pantheon that was infamous for their incompetence and tons of internal problems that were accumulating further and further.
Now, he just waited until it exploded and destroyed them from the inside.
In fact, he felt that it would be very soon.
When he tried to use his Clairvoyance to examine Olympus's fate and future, he saw blurry images, as if something or someone was obstructing his view. Yet, there was one constant among all images, and it was fire, blood, and stars falling down from the sky.
He shared these images together with Indra, Okhwang, and Odin, and they came to the conclusion that something was happening in the shadows of the Greek Pantheon, something that nobody could see, and it was behind the things that were happening on the outside.
And it was clear that someone was playing a very long game of plotting against the Greeks.
That was the main reason why he was sending his son and his company to the territory of the Greek Pantheon to investigate the situation, because he felt that there was something great to happen in that place.
Perhaps it won't be anything.
But even Odin and Okhwang saw the same thing as he did.
The chances of it being nothing were zero to null then.
If, by any chance, they managed to learn what was happening in the Greek Pantheon and uncover the reason for the very bad visions when they attempted to use Clairvoyance, Divination, and Future Sight on the state of the Greek Pantheon.
"Then, if there is not anything else requiring my immediate attention, I shall be going to Valiana and coordinating the efforts with her."
Yhwach said as he slowly departed from his father's office and went to Valiana to get permission. They needed to decide the name of their mercenary company under which they would operate and finish some minor things, but as long as the main things were finished, they were free to go.
He just needed to give the devices that he had created to his father so they could monitor them from a distance in case something happened. Yhwach wasn't ruling out the possibility that they would be ambushed by the Old Satan Faction en masse, no matter how improbable it would be.
***
When he found Valiana, it was already evening in the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon, which became well... surprisingly or not, even here, they had the cycle of day and night.
The time cycle in the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon was not only limited to that, but this applied to all of the Pantheons and factions in their personal dimension and was synchronized with the general flow of time in the main Draconic Deus Dimension.
Valiana was training for most of her day, sometimes even late into the night, especially right now that she had commenced her evolution and managed to awaken the Clan Traits of the House Lucifer.
When it came to the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light, it required a lot of training because the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light was a very challenging Clan Trait to control and properly master.
Especially for Valiana, who wasn't born with the Clan Trait but awakened it later in her life, so she was having slight trouble and needed to put extra effort into it. Fortunately, with his mother's tutoring, she had a lot of advantages that the other wouldn't have.
Still, the element of Light was one of the hardest elements to master, in fact, because Light was considered an Advanced Element. Compared to that, elements like Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind were considered Basic Elements.
And what Valiana had wasn't just any Light, but it was actually an even more powerful and sophisticated form of the Light, meaning it was an even more challenging thing to master, but for Valiana, this was just another challenge that she would overcome sooner or later.
"You should really dedicate some time to resting Val... or you will train yourself to death."
Yhwach said as he entered the training yard and saw that Valiana was actually training in the usage of the Sacred Gear Canceller. Compared to the Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light, she was having a far easier time when it came to this weakened version of the Soul Gear Nullifier.
He managed to analyze the Sacred Gear Canceller, and even though replication of its effects was probably impossible to achieve, he knew that one needed just sufficient Willpower and Energy to use the ability.
And there it was... nothing else...
[I have been telling her the same, but she is not listening at all... since the time you told her about leaving the Divine Realm, she has been training several times harder than before.]
Albion's voice sounded across the training yard as Valiana stopped training for a moment when she noticed that he had entered the room.
"I talked with father, and he gave us permission to leave the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon and venture into the wider Draconic Deus. We just need to register our Signs into the devices that I created and leave the Talisman Lamp at home, and we are free to go."
As he stated, Valiana suddenly jumped on him out of nowhere and pushed him down as she was sitting on his stomach and gave him a passionate kiss.
Either from sheer happiness or whatever, not like he had complained about such a greeting.
"Did you choose the name already?"
Valiana asked him as they separated, though they still remained in the same position.
"Sternritter. The Star-Cross Knight Order."